Picture 125 million pounds of food. That's enough to serve 125 million meals, or to fill about 6,200 tractor trailers with food.

And it’s how much food St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance has pledged to distribute in Arizona in 2021, increasing collections gradually each year until then.

It’s a lofty goal, considering last fiscal year the Phoenix-based non-profit donated 86 million pounds of food — and that was already a record..

But collecting more food is only part of the challenge.

To both store and preserve more food,St. Mary's is making renovations to its main warehouse facility in Phoenix and across its nearly 500 agency banks — smaller food banks that are part of the St. Mary's Alliance — in central and northern Arizona.

The biggest renovations are taking place at St. Mary’s main Phoenix site, at 31st Avenue and Thomas Road, which includes a warehouse and distribution center. About 800 families walk through its doors every day — that’s part of the 250,000 meals distributed daily across Arizona, according to food bank officials.

Maria Politrol (left), Alexus Kasuse and Alex Suniga stand in line waiting to give food to customers at the St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance on Thursday, July 13, 2017 in Phoenix, Ariz.
Loren Townsley/ The Republic

Staff and volunteers pack food boxes at St. Mary's UOP Programs Center. Arizona is known for growing an abundance of citrus and food banks have been grateful recipients of significant donations throughout the years. This year, however, the current Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) quarantine will cause St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance and United Food Bank to restrict the citrus donations they accept.
Nick Oza/The Republic

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Bridging the 'meal gap'

St. Mary’s and other food banks and pantries in Arizona help fill the state’s large “meal gap,” which represents what's leftover after families provide what they can for themselves and after getting assistance through federal programs.

The meal gap for families is especially worrisome during the summer months, when families’ budgets become tighter: Kids are out of school and often can’t rely on the free breakfast and lunch they’re normally provided.

Nearly half a million children depend on free meals during the school year in Arizona. When summer comes, only 15 percent of those children continue to receive free meals and must rely on other means. While there are mobile food pantries and community centers open over the summer, many of the elementary and middle schools across the state close.

Mina Valerio works with customers at the St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance on Thursday, July 13, 2017 in Phoenix, Ariz.(Photo: Loren Townsley/ The Republic)

Tapping Amazon's expertise

St. Mary's facility operations team first assessed what physical changes would need to be made to improve an older warehouse, which included a building walk-through by experts at Amazon.

“We want to ensure that we’re not just feeding the line, but feeding the line nutritiously.”

David Martinez, St. Mary’s advocacy and outreach specialist

Rather than raising money for a new warehouse, they decided to make smaller changes to the existing one, said David Martinez, advocacy and outreach specialist for the food bank. Renovations will begin this fall, focusing on four key areas:

1. Bigger cooler capacity: The cooler space will expand to 40,000 square feet, up from 25,000 now. Because this space is on the northeast side of the building, where the least amount of sunlight comes through, food is preserved for longer.

St. Mary’s has committed to making a third of distributions nutritious food. This allows the food bank to bring in more fresh produce.

“We want to ensure that we’re not just feeding the line, but feeding the line nutritiously,” Martinez said.

According to a Feeding America survey, 79 percent of low-income people stretch their food budget by purchasing unhealthy food because it's less expensive.

Maria Politrol (left), Alexus Kasuse and Alex Suniga stand in line waiting to give food to customers at the St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance on Thursday, July 13, 2017 in Phoenix, Ariz.(Photo: Loren Townsley/ The Republic)

2. Improved docks: Another strategy is to renovate the transportation docks to maximize the lifespan of food. This means the food will go straight from the delivery truck into a cooler (and vice versa) to ensure food is kept at the right temperature.

3. Extra racking: By adding more racking, St. Mary's can store more product at once. This renovation includes moving those racks to face the same direction, so warehouse staff spends less time navigating and more time delivering food directly to the docks.

4. Better working conditions: As the largest food bank alliance in Arizona and one of the largest in the country, St. Mary's had more than 85,000 volunteers in the 2015-16 fiscal year.

But it could have more by improving working conditions in the “Hope Central” volunteer area. Currently, volunteers pack about 45,000 boxes of food each month. This renovation will provide them an air-conditioned space away from the warehouse.

Heat takes toll on volunteers

When C.J. Johnston, a volunteer for the last two years, heard about the proposed improvements, all she could say was: "Woo-hoo!"

Johnston works up to four hours a day, three days a week, and the warehouse can be a difficult place to work with only fans providing air in sometimes scorching heat.

“One day I was out on the line and a lady came up and just handed me a new shirt.”

Steven Carstensen, volunteer

"Especially when you get 100-plus volunteers in here, and three lines are going, people left and right, it gets hot," added Steven Carstensen, a volunteer through the vocational rehabilitation program. "One day I was out on the line and a lady came up and just handed me a new shirt."

Carstensen volunteers Mondays through Thursdays. Sometimes they work through the hottest part of the afternoon.

A new air-conditioned facility could attract more volunteers, said Kevin Douglas, who began volunteering at St. Mary's because he knows what it's like to be on the other side. St. Mary's helped him for years while he was homeless and even once he found a job, while he still needed to feed his family.

"Air conditioning will definitely help make the atmosphere more conducive to getting work done because people won't be complaining about how hot it is," Douglas said.

How to help

Serving Arizona: Using data compiled by Feeding America, St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance determined 125 million pounds of food is required to meet the need of its distribution area. The 81,000-square-mile area extends from Maricopa County to Arizona’s northern border and includes La Paz, Mohave, Yavapai, Coconino and most of Navajo and Apache counties.

Season for Sharing: In March, St. Mary’s received a $70,000 grant from The Arizona Republic’s annual Season for Sharing campaign. That follows a $75,000 grant the year before. This year, Season for Sharing raised and gave away $2.4 million to 159 Arizona non-profits that help at-risk children and families, improve educational skills, aid victims of domestic violence and serve the elderly. To donate to Season for Sharing, text “sharing” to 51-555 or go to sharing.azcentral.com.

To volunteer: Anyone 16 years or older can volunteer, and 12- to 15-year-olds can volunteer with adult supervision. Register at volunteer.firstfoodbank.org.